Comments by "Sean" (@sean2015) on "Bernie Sanders said billionaires shouldn't exist. See billionaire's response" video.

  1.  @bernlin2000  I understand that but you can't take money out of politics completely. Political campaigns at virtually all levels is very expensive and unless we give everybody (even the little guys) a fair shot at running for office, we'll be stuck with self-financing billionaires like Trump. Is that what you want?
    1
  2.  Sun Wukung  I agree that "anonymous" donations should not be allowed. The keys to campaign finance reform are disclosure and transparency.
    1
  3.  Sun Wukung  as I said, I believe in transparency. I believe that the American people should have the right to know who donates to whom. But let's be realistic here. Running a political campaign is very expensive. Someone running for president simply can't go around knocking on doors - it just doesn't work that way. If we do as you're proposing, then we are making elected office inaccessible to all those except the wealthiest individuals. We would be stuck with Bill Gates, Jeff Bezos and Oprah Winfrey as our choices for president. Do you really want that?
    1
  4.  Sun Wukung  the last time I checked, Elizabeth Warren had raised more than $35 million (mind you we're still four months away from the first primary). You can rest assured that as the field of Democratic candidates dwindles and more candidates drop out of the race, Warren's rate of fundraising will accelerate drastically. I say that because you seem to have an issue with big money in politics. I don't know why folks like you make such an issue out of PACs, especially if you're fine with "small donors" -- because that's essentially what a PAC is. A PAC is simply a group of small donors who work for a company or corporation and pool their money, the only difference is that instead of writing the candidates checks in their own name, they write it on behalf of their company. It is NOT the company's money that goes to the candidates, it's the employees' . So when candidates like Warren and Sanders and AOC harp about not accepting PAC money, it's all a lot of meaningless political posturing and empty rhetoric.
    1
  5. Sun Wukung but you DO know where the money comes from. It comes from a particular company or corporation. Now if you REALLY want to be thorough and find out who works for that corporation, it is possible through a little detective work. But, if anything it is far easier to gage where a particular company may stand on a particular issue than for an individual (e.g. it’s easy to see where Halliburton may stand on the issue of fracking, but who knows where Joe Schmoe who works for Halliburton happens to feel about it, if you’re even aware that he’s an employee). Also — there really isn’t such thing as a “huge lump sum” from a PAC. PACs are subject to maximum donation amounts the same as individuals ($1000 for an individual, $5000 for a PAC).
    1
  6.  Sun Wukung  here's the link I used: https://www.fec.gov/help-candidates-and-committees/candidate-taking-receipts/contribution-limits/ Oops, I see it's the exact same link which you've posted here (ain't that a kicker?) Don't you think I would've looked this up before responding to you?
    1
  7.  Sun Wukung  to continue where I left off, let me give you a real-life example: Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez did some posturing about how she refused to accept money from a PAC connected to JP Morgan. However, it turns out that she accepted two $2700 individual donations from executives who worked for the company. That actually amounts to more money ($5400) than the maximum allowable donation amount ($5000, and yes it is $5000) that the PAC could've given her. Why do you have such a problem with money when it comes from a corporation rather than an individual who works for one?
    1